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Text of the page (random words):
ll the light in at once she s awake thank heavens aj do you know why you re in the hospital do you know what year it is there s a man standing above me with a stethoscope around his neck i try to respond but my throat is too dry water get her some water doug the voice that sounds like my mom shrieks i can hear her but the doctor is blocking my view a cup of water is handed to me and i sip gingerly from it then i look at the doctor are you a real doctor or a ghost doctor aj that s so rude my mom admonishes me i can assure you i m real the doctor chuckles after all your parents can see me too i squeeze my eyes shut and fall back onto the pillow it didn t work aj can you answer my questions now do you know why you re here what year is it 2020 6 the doctor nods encouragingly i think i fell aj you fell down the stairs and have been unconscious for three days i told you not to go up to the attic because there was a broken step but did you listen i must not have remembered mom what my mom doesn t know is that i did remember and was trying to find a way to see ghosts i ve been obsessed with the tv show ghosts and after sam fell down the stairs she was able to see the ghosts in her house i wanted to see the ghosts in my house but so far i don t think the plan has worked everyone in this room is real i know there must be ghosts in our house since it s super old like from the nineteen forties it just feels like a boring house now that i know the possibilities are there and i have no access to them i really really want to see at least one ghost i wouldn t mind a hot one like trevor or thorfinn i d settle for someone fun like flower though maybe no one died in my hospital room and that s why i can t see anyone yet maybe there will be a ghost in the house when i get home i think we should let her rest polly we can come back tomorrow morning and maybe she ll be ready to be discharged by then sleep tight honey and we ll get that stair fixed so this never happens again i nod and smile letting my eyes close again in hopes of getting one day closer to seeing ghosts when i m finally able to go back home the next afternoon i m finally free to leave as i get wheeled out of the hospital i look around to see if anyone there looks like they could be a ghost so far i can t tell with so many people walking around the hallways and lobby they all look pretty modern but maybe some of them died recently or maybe the only ghosts i m able to see are the ones in my house when we get home my mom offers to make me some soup and i take her up on that if she s cooking she won t see me checking for ghosts in the house where do you think you re going young lady you should be resting in bed doctor s orders for the next twenty four hours i ll bring the soup upstairs when it s ready i need to stretch my legs though i ve been laying in bed for three days apparently my legs will stop working if i don t walk around a bit that s nonsense you just need to rest for one more day and then you can be up and about again ugh fine can you bring up my laptop so i can watch some shows at least i think i ve slept enough i ll have your dad bring it up soon i settle into my room and put on my comfiest pajamas then i start searching in the closet under the bed behind the drapes and anywhere else a ghost might be hiding waiting to make their presence known no sign of anyone by the time my mom arrives with the soup what are you looking for i thought i lost an earring you re wearing your earrings now get into bed after i have some delicious homemade chicken soup i turn on my laptop and put ghosts on maybe this will lure the ones in my house out of hiding as i still haven t seen any yet i laugh my way through a few episodes before calling it quits because my eyes don t want to stay open anymore maybe when everyone else goes to bed a ghost will come out of hiding and visit me it s three in the morning and while i ve heard some usual household creaks and groans there hasn t been any sign of someone who died in this house and didn t get sucked off as they say on the show i whisper as to not wake my parents is anyone here who is not currently alive i am nice and won t hurt you it s safe to come out i look at the clock as the minutes tick by without any ghosts showing up i finally give up for the night and go back to sleep mortimer she ll never be able to see us we need to try some new tactics loretta i don t know what else we can do clearly breaking that stair by the attic didn t work well we don t want her to see us by becoming a ghost herself then she won t be able to do anything for us and we ve seen how useful the girl on that colorful little screen is posted by melissa at 5 37 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels writing thursday may 26 2022 excerpt adult assembly required one liz quinn the manager of knight s one of the few remaining independent bookstores in los angeles was not someone you d describe as softhearted yes she had adopted a stray cat who d had kittens in the store and yes she had a new relationship she sometimes blushed over but generally speaking she viewed humanity with a jaundiced eye however even liz was having a hard time not feeling sorry for the customer standing in front of her to start with the young woman was wet it doesn t rain very often in los angeles particularly in august but it does rain and ten minutes earlier the clouds had challenged themselves to dump as much rain as they possibly could liz had discovered a puddle in front of douglas adams and tracked it along the shelves to p g wodehouse there she found the homo nimbus and spoke to her excuse me would you care for a towel the young woman turned to look at her and liz realized she d been crying uh yes thank you it started raining she was still crying albeit silently the tears kept rolling down her cheeks leaving cinematically visible tracks in whatever grimy residue they were washing away i d ask if you were ok but clearly you re not said liz whose mastery of the précis was unsurpassed she raised her voice and called to the back of the store polly bring a towel will you a muffled voice called back no i m not ok said the woman i m sorry about the floor she took a breath and reached out to shake liz s hand my name is laura costello and i m having a bad day she realized that made her sound like a member of a twelve step group with an extremely low requirement for membership but it s what came out in what way bad asked liz always interested in other people s disasters she wondered what was taking polly so long with the towel then remembered she herself had used it to dry ferdinand the store cat who d also missed the memo about the rain her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to remember what she d done with it had she left it under the cat oh well polly would work it out liz refocused on laura well said laura taking a deep breath and unloading at a rapid clip i moved here for grad school but i came early so i could get settled and maybe line up some part time work and today i had a job interview and it went well but i didn t get it so i guess not that well and then i went home and my apartment building was on fire she paused not my apartment building despite the narrative speed and slightly hysterical delivery liz was following she nodded her hands folded in front of her like a puzzled but hopeful maître d i understood what you meant i can see how that might put a kink in your knickers laura costello looked at her cautiously not entirely certain what knickers were and sniffed so i called my grandmother for suggestions but she snorted and called me a wuss and to distract me told me a friend of mine had cheated on her boyfriend dave with other dave the one with the toes liz was clinging to the thread like the fantasy genre jockey she was the original dave was toeless laura shook her head no he has toes but other dave has extra toes liz raised her voice again polly towel and then she said i could always come home which she knew would calm me down because obviously that s not what i want to do of course not said liz supportively though she was beginning to regret even starting this conversation in the first place liz had what you might call resting approachable face which meant this kind of detailed personal download got thrust on her all the time it was a pity because she really wasn t very interested laura gathered her long wet hair into a makeshift knot and looked at liz wide eyed so i was wandering around trying to think of what to do and it started raining so i got on the first bus that came along and here i am she was trying to hold it together and behind her head the twist of hair was slowly and silently unfurling like a cinnamon bun expanding in the heat of the store i have no job no friends and now no apartment and no dry clothes or actually any clothes except the ones i m wearing unexpectedly she smiled but i m still here and in another month i ll start grad school and then i ll have somewhere to live she turned up her hands it s fine i m fine everything s fine there was a wobble hiding somewhere in her voice but it was keeping its head down pretty successfully at that very minute polly culligan one of the employees of the bookstore turned up with the towel sorry she said breathlessly the cat didn t want to let go then she noticed the drying tears and the soot and the expression on liz s face and raised her voice nina she yelled put the kettle on nina hill was the co owner of knight s and a bookish person of the first order she had been spending the afternoon going through school reading lists for the year making sure the store was completely stocked true most local parents would purchase their books online the quislings but you would be surprised how many copies of the outsiders the store ended up selling at the last minute stay gold ponyboy plus if a local parent walked in and asked for the house on mango street or the great gatsby and some other parent had snatched up the last copy there would be hell to pay and amazon would pocket the profit nina took this responsibility seriously and had been deep in concentration when the door suddenly burst open and a tall damp woman accosted her where she sat nina leapt to her feet yanked out the earbuds that had prevented her hearing the yelling the knocking or the requests for kettle assistance and prepared to do battle hello said the sudden arrival who was of course laura she looked down how did you fracture your wrist she d appeared so abruptly because the rain had made the door to the office swell and she d had to push rather harder than she d expected and you can imagine the rest i m sorry said nina are you looking for a book she backed up a little which caused her to step on the cat who bit her on the ankle ferdinand had only just recovered from the loss of the towel and being stepped on was a bridge too flipping far is it a colles fracture asked laura still standing there dripping on the carpet the thing to know about both nina and laura though they didn t realize it about each other at the time is that they were both women of singular focus nina was obsessed with books popular culture movies and anything meme able laura was obsessed with sports bones muscles and achieving a full range of motion unfortunately laura s specific area of interest was making her come across as a bit of a nutter especially when you added damp smoke and the wild hair that was reminding nina of scandinavian hagrid which isn t even a thing i don t know what kind of fracture it is nina said crossly are you from my health insurance company her voice was surprisingly deep and there was zero nonsense in her tone possibly even less than that laura frowned no are you from the city la s occupational safety and health division didn t normally get involved in nonwork related incidents but nina was taking no chances no laura took a step back and stomped on polly who was right behind her she squeaked but had more self control than the store cat and didn t bite laura at all hey cerberus growled liz dryly from beyond laura s shoulder this person needs a cup of tea not an interrogation liz said nina yes replied her friend and business partner pushing past laura who seemed to be frozen in place who else would it be this is not a surprise attack an insurance checkup or even a random piece of dada performance art it s a damp customer who s having a bad day and needs a cup of tea she bustled over to the kettle flicking it on and turning around to raise her eyebrows at nina remember those people who sometimes come between you and your tidy shelves the ones we depend upon for our livelihood oh said nina squinting dubiously at laura yes i remember them laura looked at the small slender young woman in the fifties fit and flare dress and immediately worried they weren t going to get on nina was the kind of hip geek chic girl who d looked over her vintage framed glasses in high school and made laura feel oversized and clumsy sorry said laura i probably should have introduced myself before asking about your wrist but i m training to be a physical therapist and a cast always catches my eye she dropped her gaze to underline her nonthreatening status and immediately started being jealous of nina s shoes which were small and beaded she had always wished she were quirky enough to wear vintage clothes but she d never been able to pull it off nina looked mollified well i m sorry for leaping to the conclusion that you were a health insurance spy that s a thing asked polly whose expression suggested she was imagining something far more exciting than the reality nina looked strangely pleased to answer are you kidding insurance fraud not counting health insurance costs the industry over forty billion dollars a year health insurance fraud on its own is more like seventy billion nina raised her eyebrows and while life insurance dates back to the burial societies of ancient greece and rome we also have evidence of insurance fraud dating back to the first century ad which if you think about it enough trivia chatter interrupted liz i need tea ten minutes later nina still hadn t explained how she d hurt herself to be fair that ten minutes had been taken up by laura explaining about the fire the apartment the job but nina had made the tea left handed without spilling so laura estimated she d been in the cast at least a month thanks laura said taking the tea but seriously how did you fracture your wrist i really want to know she was sitting on a table at the back of the office having politely asked the cat to move the cat was beyond peevish by that point and liz had to intervene and give up her chair nina rolled her eyes and said it s a super boring story i slipped getting out of the shower and my hand slid into the base of the toilet and bent the wrong way very elegant the slapping sound of my wet butt cheeks hitting the tile will be the sound effect for every embar...